Light Rail

Practically every day one can read about the tremendous growth of population and industry in Du Page County. The roads already are overcrowded and traffic congestion is at an all-time high. Building six-lane highways will never be the answer. As more highways are built, the more congested the area becomes. Adding more buses to overcrowded roads only adds to the congestion. What better mode of transportation than to ride trains on a private highway right-of-way? This is the primary...

If your spring and summer travel plans include a big city, presumably you don't need or even want a rented car, and you probably don't want to pay for taxis everywhere you go. So check the transit options. Fortunately, transit systems in many big cities offer a variety of all-day and multi-day transit passes that allow you to use buses, light rail, subway and even suburban railroads without having to pony up a separate fare every time you want a ride. Many cities offer senior...

Two years ago, this Salt Lake City suburb began collaborating with a local developer to turn industrial land into a neighborhood of town homes, condominiums and offices. Now the project, known as Birkhill at Fireclay, is finally being built. The 30-acre $140 million development by Hamlet Homes, one of this region's largest builders, will have 420 units of housing and 200,000 square feet of retail and office space. The idea is to give homeowners easier access to their jobs or to...

* Nigeria's Lagos has a GDP bigger than most African nations * Light rail one of many attempts to impose order on chaos * Critics say Lagos governor hasn't done enough for slum dwellers * Fans say institutions governor has built could outlast him By Tim Cocks LAGOS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A walk along the two kilometres of light rail that Lagos authorities have managed to build in three years gives a sense of how hard it is to impose order on one of ...

To most people, the proposed downtown circulator system is a mass transit project designed to meet the commuting needs of a Loop area that has expanded greatly in the last 20 years. But the circulator is also viewed as an economic development tool, with the power to have an impact on future building downtown. "Economic development is one of the major goals, not only to encourage new development but also retain business here. We can use the light rail system to ultimately...

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The number of Americans commuting by public transportation rose to the second highest level on record last year, as more people returned to work, according to an annual survey released by the leading U.S. transit association on Monday. The growth in ridership would have been even stronger, if Superstorm Sandy had not stranded people and shut down transit along the East Coast, where public transportation is most ...

A decade ago, the fortunes of this lower-middle-class Denver suburb were inextricably linked to Cinderella City, a mall virtually devoid of retailers, and to the automobile. Today, where the 1960s mall and its parking lots once sat, Englewood has latched onto a new hope: 55 acres of apartments, stores and offices anchored by a stop on a light-rail line that links Englewood to downtown Denver. The $155 million development features 438 apartments, 350,000 square feet...

Overall, 2013 is shaping up as a "more of the same" year, with only modest technical improvements and just the usual sales and promotions. Rail systems in many parts of the world are working on improvements, but you won't see any big projects completed until 2014 and beyond. AMTRAK. Given the current U.S. budget crunch, Amtrak will be lucky to hold its own this year. Although ridership and revenues hit an all-time high in 2012, the system still depends on federal subsidies, and some key...

New commuter rail lines are on the drawing board for Du Page County, but officials say new lines wouldn`t help relieve traffic problems for 20 or 30 years. "The immediate problem in Du Page is improving the north-south transportation and we can`t do a lot to help that," said Gerald Porter, Du Page's representative on the board of Metra, the suburban rail agency. "Roads and buses are more of the solution than we can ever think of being right now." "We have no north-and-south routes because the density isn`t...

Back in August 1993, when I was finally getting out of Los Angeles, the smug look on my face must have irritated my friends even more than the smog or the gridlock. Earthquakes. Riots. I had had enough. Especially with those radio Sig-Alerts warning freeway drivers they might move just half a car length in an hour. For years, I assumed "Sig" stood for Stuck in Gridlock. Public transportation in Los Angeles was a joke in the early 1990s -- a punch line on "The Tonight Show" dating back to Johnny Carson's...

The last Chicago streetcar rolled into the barns at 77th Street and Vincennes Avenue early on the morning of June 22, 1958, as mentioned in your "Chicago Days" series as one of the more memorable days in the history of Chicago and the Tribune. Chicago had the world's largest street railway system, operating more than 3,500 streetcars on nearly 1,200 miles of tracks. Buses rapidly replaced the oldest cars after World War II, and the 600 streamlined streetcars--quiet, fast and efficient--were converted into...

Transit Maps of the World By Mark Ovenden, edited by Mike Ashworth Penguin, 144 pages, $25 Those Brits have such quirky, fascinating ways of looking at the world. Billed on the cover as "The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth," this collection includes Chicago, London, Paris -- of course. But Kolkata (Calcutta), Minsk and Chinese cities like Wuhan and Xi'an are here as well, with all forms of hybrid, light-rail and monorail systems. Together these 200 maps are a fascinating...

If your spring and summer travel plans include a big city, presumably you don't need or even want a rented car, and you probably don't want to pay for taxis everywhere you go. So check the transit options. Fortunately, transit systems in many big cities offer a variety of all-day and multi-day transit passes that allow you to use buses, light rail, subway and even suburban railroads without having to pony up a separate fare every time you want a ride. Many cities offer senior...

Two years ago, this Salt Lake City suburb began collaborating with a local developer to turn industrial land into a neighborhood of town homes, condominiums and offices. Now the project, known as Birkhill at Fireclay, is finally being built. The 30-acre $140 million development by Hamlet Homes, one of this region's largest builders, will have 420 units of housing and 200,000 square feet of retail and office space. The idea is to give homeowners easier access to their jobs or to...

Does The Tribune have an editorial policy on balanced transportation that considers the environment? Evidently not, judging from its editorial of Jan. 1, in which it advocated more and wider highways in the metropolitan area to avoid gridlock. What's really needed is a greater emphasis on nonpolluting and energy-efficient electric rail systems to get people to and from work. Many areas around the country are successfully turning to light rail systems to reduce congestion and improve air quality.

A decade ago, the fortunes of this lower-middle-class Denver suburb were inextricably linked to Cinderella City, a mall virtually devoid of retailers, and to the automobile. Today, where the 1960s mall and its parking lots once sat, Englewood has latched onto a new hope: 55 acres of apartments, stores and offices anchored by a stop on a light-rail line that links Englewood to downtown Denver. The $155 million development features 438 apartments, 350,000 square feet...

If there's anything Westerners hate more than taxes, it's probably traffic gridlock. But highways are jammed throughout this region, and road rage is rising as cities from Houston to Phoenix to Salt Lake City experience phenomenal growth. Officials wonder how sprawling megalopolises can relieve this congestion without becoming another smog-filled, highway-dependent Los Angeles. Colorado voters weighed in on the question decisively this week by...

There is no need to destroy open space in Peotone for a new airport because there is plenty of existing capacity if Rockford's existing airport is expanded. Rockford is a better alternative to a needless new airport because it already exists and it can be linked to the Chicago area along the existing tollway with the addition of light rail. Add to Rockford, Milwaukee and Gary, and you have a wonderful regional solution that can be upgraded to meet the needs of the region without destroying open space in...